Waitui Whiskey

A rare New Zealand single malt whiskey aged eight years in Manuka honey mead barrels, offering a smooth, honey-nuanced dram.

Waitui Whiskey is a small-batch single malt crafted in Golden Bay by Kiwi Spirit Distillery. Distilled from Canterbury-grown malted barley using a traditional 300L copper pot still, it undergoes a unique maturation process in oak barrels previously used for ageing the distillery’s own Manuka honey mead.

This extended eight-year aging period creates a whiskey with remarkable smoothness and character, featuring notes of apricot, brioche, and vanilla, with a light touch of honey derived solely from the barrel’s history. Inspired by old-world monastic traditions of maturing spirits in mead casks, each batch is extremely limited, with only four barrels released annually. Every bottle is hand-labelled and numbered, highlighting its exclusivity and artisanal quality.